Digital video transmission technology enables satellite and cable operators to increase the number and kinds of services that they offer to subscribers. Although digital technology brings advantages to operators and subscribers as compared to traditional analog networks, it also has a number of drawbacks. For example, changing channels in a digital television service typically takes longer than in an analog television service, with a noticeable delay being introduced between when a user initiates a channel change and when the channel change actually occurs. This channel changing latency may annoy and frustrate users of digital television services.
While certain techniques for reducing channel change latency are known, these techniques suffer from drawbacks such as the channel being changed to being initially displayed in a lower resolution, or the need for complex decoding and storage circuitry in a multi-media device that receives raw data from the provider and provides an output signal to the television.
Therefore, further development in the area of reducing the latency of channel change in digital video systems, which can be referred to as a “fast channel change,” is needed.